Chapter 3: Born From Nature
The world came back into focus as Mega Stallion teleported to his destination. He wasn’t sure what to make of the world that surrounded him. On a normal day, it would have just been a park outside of town, with ponies enjoying the day and animals running around. But this was anything but a normal day. What was once a beautiful sight of nature had now been ruined. Trees were turned upside down, random patches of grass were turned pink, and most importantly, there were giant robot rabbits coming towards him. How did I miss that?
Preparing for the fight, he let energy collect behind his horn. It kept building while the rabbits advanced. When he felt he could no longer hold the power inside him, the shot erupted from his head, destroying the closest robot in a small, fiery explosion. For such a collision of power, that was pretty underwhelming. No time to dwell on that, though, more work to do.
The remaining rabbits fired missiles from their chests, shaped like…carrots? Who designed these and what was wrong in his head? Mega Stallion repeated his previous tactics, only deviating to dodge missiles. Before long, his opponents laid on the ground before him, nothing more than piles of ash. Poor robots.
A small beep came from inside his helmet, which was followed by Doctor Light’s voice. “Rock? Good to see the transmissions are working, sensors are picking up electromagnetic fields blocking other forms of data. We were lucky just to have you arrive in one piece.”
“It hasn’t been a problem, Doctor. Even the enemies I just faced weren’t a threat. These upgrades of yours really work! I feel like I could take on the whole universe!”
“Well, don’t push yourself too hard, Rock. Remember that even with the powers I gave you, you have your limits.” Mega Stallion detected a slight wavering in Doctor Light’s voice, but couldn’t figure out why.
“I’ll be fine, Doctor. Now, where is that robot? You did send me to the right place, right? This sure doesn’t look like any sort of town I could imagine sane ponies living.”
“Well, that’s two separate explanations there. You’ve got a bit of a distance to walk before you reach the ‘Robot Masters’, as I’ve decided to call them. They seem to be outputting one of the previously mentioned fields, preventing your teleport from entering the area. I’ve gotten you as close as I can, you’ll just have to hoof it the rest of the way. And judging by the opponents you’ve already faced, it won’t be easy.”
Mega Stallion was starting to get bored by Doctor Light’s explanations. Strange. I liked hearing the scientific reasoning not too long ago. What’s changed? “So, why exactly does this place look less like a living space and more like a stage created to test my abilities?”
“I’m not sure. It’s probably safe to assume that the Robot Masters deformed their areas to make sure the only ones who reach them are worthy challenges. Sporting, aren’t they?” Doctor Light’s words began to burn with sarcasm.
Well, that’s me. I’m the best challenge they’re ever going to get. “Alright, Doctor Light. I’m cutting the transmission now. Wish me luck!” With that, there was only silence. Well, save for the screams of three mares running in terror from robot bats. That’s my cue.
Luckily for him, the bats were far easier to destroy. Standard, uncharged shots were more than enough to reduce them to rubble and save the mares. “Looks like I was here at the right time.” Noticing that their frightened state of mind wasn’t changing, he realized he probably looked pretty intimidating. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. There’s an enemy I’m going after. Could you point me in the direction I should be going?”
The three mares all pointed to their left, which Mega Stallion noticed was going closer to the forest. Seems a little counterproductive, but they know the place better than I do. “Thank you very much, ladies. Try not to get into more trouble.” He ran off, Ponyville getting farther behind him. More of the same threats attempted to impede his progress, but they were destroyed just as fast as they arrived.
Too busy fighting the robots, Mega Stallion failed to realize that there was a giant hole in his way. And dodging a missile, he fell straight in. Ow. For robots too stupid to move out of the way of my shots, this was a pretty good trap. With no way to go back up, he decided to just move forward. This tunnel is conveniently well-lit. Whatever makes my job easier.
Working his way through the underground path, he was expecting to be swarmed by bats. He wasn’t wrong. They flew forward in swarms, faster than he could shoot them down. Luckily, they didn’t turn back once they passed him, instead opting to fly into the sunlight to freedom. Must be causing all kinds of havoc up there. All the more reason to hurry.
The tunnel progressively got brighter until Mega Stallion reached the other end, a ladder providing an escape route. This is all too convenient. Someone’s messing with me. While momentarily glancing away, a heavy force struck the ground, making him temporarily lose his balance. When he stood back up, there was now a giant dog guarding the exit. It breathed a stream of fire, prompting Mega Stallion to roll out of the way. Looking at where he previously was, the rock was now molten, glowing orange. Important note: dodge that.
Barraging the attacker with plasma, he noticed it was barely making a dent. Whatever this thing was, it was certainly built to be durable. Fire removing chunks of rock from the walls threatened to bring the tunnel down around both of them. I need to bring him down fast, or else we’re both in trouble. One final charge shot brought the mighty beast down in an explosion that shook everything around. The tunnel began to collapse as Mega Stallion rushed to the ladder and climbed to safety just in the nick of time.
Once he was back to safety, he looked at the landslide behind him, closing off the exit of the tunnel. I’d feel really bad for a non-pegasus that fell in on the other end. His thought was interrupted by a gorilla jumping towards him. Sliding away at the last second, he sprang back up and peppered it with blasts until it fell. Looking around, he noticed a cottage right on the edge of the forest. That must be my destination.
As he ran towards the building, one last obstacle came out of the trees. Giant robot chickens. Shooting at them, he noticed these were the only ones that his shots didn’t affect. They instead bounced off the outer shell, flying off into the air. Hope that doesn’t collide with anything. Momentarily distracted, he failed to notice that the chicken was coming closer at an alarming rate, nearly on top of him when he noticed. With no time to react, he fell to the ground as it harmlessly jumped over him. Oh. Well that was easy. Taking the opportunity, he raced to the cottage, finally making it to the end.
Outside the cottage, there were animals everywhere. All kinds of them, from birds to seals to normal chickens. And feeding them was…A tree? Am I losing my mind? When the tree turned, he saw that it was actually a mare inside of a tree costume of some sort. I can see why the town looks like no sane pony would live here. It appears there aren’t any. “Hello?”
At the sound of his voice, the mare leaped up in surprise, making a squeak. She landed and covered her face. Mega Stallion took pity on her. “Don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m on a mission to save Equestria, and I was told that I could find the enemy here.” He reached out a hoof to help her up.
“No! Get back!” She leaped again, this time surrounding herself with a leaf shield before getting her first good look at the one she was so afraid of. He may have had an intimidating look, but she could see a kind heart inside. She stepped forward, accidentally shooting the leaves toward him.
Taken aback with no time to dodge, Mega Stallion was hit by the oncoming leaves. They were surprisingly sharp, cutting gashes in his armor. Kneeling on the ground in pain, he realized why she would have such an ability. “You’re the Robot Master!” Without giving another second on the matter, he started charging a shot.
To say that the mare was shocked would have been an understatement. “Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you! I don’t know how to use these powers yet!” He didn’t hear her words, a combination of her low volume, charge noise, and his unbridled rage. “Wait, why isn’t there blood? You’re a robot?”
He definitely heard that. He disabled the charge he was building up. “You’re not?” Suddenly, the entire game changed. Fighting other robots would have been bad enough, but a living pony? Impossible, I would never do such a thing. But…if they really are enemies, is it worth fighting them to save the rest of Equestria? He called up the transmitter again. “Doctor Light, we’ve got a problem. The Robot Masters aren’t robots at all! They’re ponies in armor!”
Doctor Light was shocked at this turn of events. “What?! But then how…All right, I see. Do you think they’re still threats?”
“The one I’m with right now doesn’t seem dangerous, but she’s got power. Her weapon was enough to cut clean gashes in my armor.”
“Well, we do have an option. If you can defeat a Robot Master using only your plasma cannon, or ‘Mega Buster’, it will only neutralize them. You’ll still get their powers, but they’ll survive.”
Mega Stallion still didn’t like the idea of harming a pony, but it shouldn’t do lasting harm. “All right, I’m ready! Do your worst, I’ll take you down!” He cut the communication, and resumed charging. The tree mare only squeaked, bringing up another Leaf Shield.
The fight began. Mega Stallion fired the shot, which bounced harmlessly off the shield. Leaves went flying up into the air, and she fired the shield forward. This time, he was prepared, jumping over it. What he wasn’t expecting was the leaves coming back down, cutting him again. What are these leaves made of? But the tree wasn’t a fighter, and was only capable of fighting in a simple pattern, which he quickly learned. The fight progressed smoothly, and he soon got her damaged and low on health.
What happened next, neither one of them expected. Her armor began to glow with a white aura, and leaves went flying everywhere. Against her will, she yelled “Razor Leaf!” As she said it, a torrent of leaves went flying towards Mega Stallion, completely undodgeable. He was sliced into from every angle, and he was struggling to remain standing once it was over. To his surprise, so was she.
Using the last of his energy, he fired a final shot, which collided perfectly with her chest. The world seemed to slow down as both of them fell to the ground. A ball of energy came out of her armor, just before it exploded. Mega Stallion got scared for a second, until the smoke cleared and the mare was unharmed. Lucky her. The energy flew into his body as he felt her powers being adapted into his skillset. Now that the fight was over, he brought up communications again. He struggled to even speak. “All…right, Doctor. Mission…completed. Bring me back…for repairs.”
“Wait!” Mega Stallion looked over at the mare he had just defeated. If she had been this loud earlier, there might not have been a fight. “Why didn’t you kill me?”
“I may have a mission, but I’m not a heartless killer. I won’t hurt any living creature.”
She nodded. “I guess we’re pretty similar, then. I’m Fluttershy. Why did you come here in the first place? What is your mission?”
“I was sent by my creator, Doctor Light. I’m working to save Equestria, and fighting seemed to be the only way to do it. I’m sorry I had to fight you, you seem cooperative. There must be some alternative.” Mega Stallion was beamed up back to the lab as Fluttershy sat on the ground, wondering why he was also fighting. And why did he fight me?